


The Paladin Shuffle

by Leonawriter



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Autistic Keith (Voltron), Gen, Headcanon'd with ADHD Lance, Lance.exe has stopped working, Leadership, Post-Season/Series 02, Season 2 spoilers, Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 04:19:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9640454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonawriter/pseuds/Leonawriter
Summary: It takes a mission that could have almost ended in failure to bring up the fact that maybe they hadn't shifted into the right places with Shiro's absence. Lance just thinks he's being rightfully in disbelief at how bad Keith was at being their leader. The others seem to see things in a different light.





	1. Chapter 1

They get out of their Lions more in an exhausted heap than anything, Coran still too busy flying the Castle away and out of harm's way to come meet them in the hangar. 

Keith leans heavily against Black, watching as Lance marches out of Red with purpose, their armour at odds with their Lions in Shiro's absence.

"What the hell were you  _thinking?_ Keith, if you're going to be the leader, you don't just - you don't rush off on your own like that without telling everyone else what's happening! That's, like, Leadership 101!"

Hunk, in the other hangar, makes an impressed sound.

_"Wow. I didn't think you actually listened to any of that stuff. Good job, Lance!"_

Keith just glares at him. Too tired from the fight to do much else, it looked like.

"I knew what I was doing."

In any other situation, Lance would roll his eyes, or make a point of it.  _Score one for Lance_. But right now-

"No, you didn't! I had to bail the team out, Keith! Me! Seriously, the basic things you learn first are  _listen to the team_ and  _know what's going on_ , and  _don't just strike out on your own_ , and you failed all of them! Like, where were you, because some of those classes are  _mandatory_ for anyone from second year on, starting from around-"

Lance cut off his tirade, as the answer explained itself, his eyes widening as he realised what had happened, and what he'd said.

Pidge and Hunk weren't saying anything, now. Allura made a quick comment about going up to the control room to make sure things were going well and they could wormhole away if needed, and then there was radio silence again.

 _Awkward_ radio silence.

He sighed, releasing some of the tension, and reached up to scratch an itch on his cheek through his helmet.

 _Of course he wasn't there for Leadership 101. Or the rest of the year. Keith flunked out before any of that started. He just didn't_ take _those classes. He isn't just a hothead - he doesn't know._

_No, wait, that's not right, is it? What was it Iverson was always saying? Discipline issue. And... now that I think about it, that was probably because of Shiro then, too._

"Look," Keith is saying now, and Lance swallows, hoping he hasn't just caused some kind of fracture in the team because of his big mouth, because that's the  _last_ thing Team Voltron needs right now. "I get it, okay? I'm not the best leader. I didn't exactly want this in the first place. But Shiro wanted me to do this, so I'm  _trying_."

 _"And we get that,"_ Hunk interjects, and Lance can just see the placating hands in his mind's eyes.  _"Really, we do. But it's not like Lance doesn't have a point either."_

Keith sighs, the anger seeping out of him more and more, but looking alarmingly discouraged. 

Alarmingly, because the last time Lance had seen the guy like this, it was right after he'd come back from that Blade of Marmora place with a bombshell to drop, looking just as much like  _he_ was about to drop as anything.

 _"You're not doing a bad job,"_ Pidge adds.  _"You're probably doing as well as any of us would."_

For a moment it almost looks like Keith has fallen asleep leaning against the Lion's face, but then Lance sees his fist clench.

"Keith? C'mon. It could've gone worse. We're all back here alive, we saved the day, everything went well. Kind of. It's a learning curve for all of us - hey, what're you- are you  _laughing at me?"_

Because he was. Keith was laughing. It'd started with his shoulders shaking, and only after that did Keith move so that Lance could see that he was  _smiling_. 

"N-no? Seriously, I'm not laughing at you. Okay, I  _sort of_ am, but it's just-" Keith went back to laughing, this time even going as far as making  _sounds_. Lance crossed his arms, unimpressed and waiting for it to stop. He was  _fine_ with being laughed at, as long as he knew why, and he was the one who'd told the joke. Not being the  _butt_ of the joke. "You keep going on about what a leader should be, and I keep thinking, 'so why isn't it you, then?' You already know what to do, Lance."

Lance blinked, surprised. And then he  _stared_. 

Whatever he'd been expecting - a barb, some scathing remark - it hadn't been  _that_.

Hunk snorted over the comms, breaking the moment.

_"You know, I was going to ask if you were serious, because this is Lance we're talking about. But then I realised that you're you, and you're still figuring out the whole sense of humour thing, so you probably are. So, I thought about it, and hey! If you think it's a good idea..."_

Lance's mind was starting to wonder if he'd somehow ended up in one of Slav's alternate realities. Because this? Wasn't happening. 

He was the one who was the  _least_ likely to end up as leader. Keith was  _cool_ \- he was their best pilot. It'd only made  _sense_ that he'd ended up in the role, that Shiro had chosen  _him_. 

And now-

 _"And we could always defer back to someone else if it doesn't end up working and we're in the middle of a mission,"_ Pidge says, continuing from where Hunk left off.  _"After all, we're a team, aren't we? But Keith's got a good point. Which I never thought I'd say, because I still remember how you always used to crash the sims back in the Garrison, but- well. This isn't the Garrison anymore. And you're actually a lot better at directing people than you think, Lance."_

"Only if that's what you're okay with too," Keith says, finally starting to move, though it looks like he's favouring his left side - probably from that time his Lion was hit - but it probably wasn't anything too major. If it was, they'd have him in a healing pod whether he liked it or not.

"I... dunno," Lance says, shrugging. "How about we bring it up with Allura first? It involves her too, right?"

"She approved me leading the team after Shiro disappeared even though we'd had our... differences, for a while. I really don't think there'll be a problem as long as everyone's in agreement."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is based on a few thoughts I've had - I've been reading posts on how Lance is actually showing a lot of leadership qualities, and talking about it, and then I remembered that at one point, I'd actually been on a leadership course as a cadet in something, and realised that the Garrison likely teaches their cadets in a more classroom environment. 
> 
> Hunk's comment about Keith's sense of humour is based on how my own is kind of... something I grew into, rather than something that came naturally. He's not being mean.


	2. Chapter 2

_I’m just a boy from Cuba_ , Lance thinks, his hand and forehead touching the Black Lion. There’s no one else in the hangar. It’s just him and her. _I just wanted to have a thing. To be recognised. To achieve something._

_If this is- if I had a choice between just being second best at everything and this, I’d happily go back to how things were before. I’m a damn good sharpshooter. I could back everyone up. I’d figure things out someday, you know?_

_But..._ his free hand fists, and, hidden from anyone other than the Lion, his face scrunches up. _I don’t... I don’t want to do this. But I will. Because I know how to get Pidge to stop working and I know how to shove Hunk into gear, and how to handle Keith at his most... Keith._

 _I’m not Shiro._  The tears are now running down his face, and he’s holding onto what he can of Black like she’s a lifeline. _I’m not. But they need someone, and if I can do this - if you’ll let me - then hell if I’ll let anyone tear us down if I can help it._

The sense of presence in the hangar grew, and Lance gasped, stepping back, wiping his eyes and hoping that crying didn't mean he’d be seen as a weak leader - _Do you think that I would have chosen you if I thought you weak, boy?_ Red’s voice echoed in his mind from his time with her, tearing the thought away, and along with it the notion that Black was just going to put her particle barrier back up, shoving him away - and the Lion moved, the ramp coming down to let him in.

His first steps were tentative, a far cry from how he’d first boarded Blue. But then, Blue had reached out to him first, and there hadn’t been any ghosts of anyone else sitting in the pilot’s chair.

Black’s presence surrounded him, pressed down on him, almost overwhelmed him, but he steeled himself, standing tall and striding forward to the chair and sitting down with a shared shiver.

“All right, beautiful. We both want Shiro back. We _all_  do. But first, how about we see how this partnership is going to work?”

There was none of the joy and excitement that came from piloting Blue. None of the sense of the immediate moment and the intensity of everything that he’d had with Red. 

But if there was one thing, there was _determination_. And that - that, Lance  _knew._  He wouldn’t have got to where he was if he didn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired greatly by this art: http://solarrush.tumblr.com/post/156964254430 where the caption quite simply said "I'm just a boy from Cuba." And the rest just flowed. And then I couldn't just leave it as a Tumblr flash fic.


End file.
